Hollow Man

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Animation & Audio Dolby Digital Trailer (City) Audio Commentary - Paul Verhoeven (Director), Kevin Bacon (Actor) & Andrew Marlowe (Writer) Isolated Musical Score with commentary by composer Jerry Goldsmith Featurette - *Hollow Man: Anatomy Of A Thriller* Featurette - *Paul Verhoeven: Hollywood's Mad Scientist* Featurette - *The Invisibility Formula* Featurette - *The Muscle Man* Featurette - *The Human Bubble* Featurette - *Thermal Imaging* Featurette - *The Smoke Guy* Featurette - *The Gorilla Suit* Featurette - *The Mask* Featurette - *Flaming Sebastian* Featurette - *Elevator Finale* Storyboard Comparisons - Ape Reversion Storyboards with commentary by Paul Verhoeven Featurette - *The Underground Lab* Featurette - Reversion Progressions with commentary by Scott Stokdyk Featurette - Invisibility Progressions with commentary by Scott Anderson Featurette - Digital Body Parts montage Featurette - VFX Picture-In-Picture comparisons (3) Deleted Scenes with commentary by Paul Verhoeven (3) Theatrical Trailer Teaser Trailer Cast & Crew Biographies
Rating
Year Released	2000
Running Time	108:06 Minutes
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (89:05)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Paul Verhoeven
Studio Distributor	Columbia Tristar	Starring	Elizabeth Shue Kevin Bacon Josh Brolin Kim Dickens Greg Grunberg Mary Randle William Devane
Case	Soft Brackley	Starring
RPI	$36.95	Music	Jerry Goldsmith

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448Kb/s) Hungarian (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s) Isolated Music Score (Dolby Digital 5.0, 448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes, but for plot movement
Subtitles	English Dutch Arabic Bulgarian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish Dutch Audio Commentary Dutch Isolated Music Score	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles		Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

"It's amazing what you can do when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror anymore..."

Ever since 1997 saw the release of Starship Troopers, a wildly misunderstood black comedy about the dual standards inherent in the American media's way of covering international incidents (amongst other things), another reunion of the four creative minds that brought Robocop and Starship Troopers to fruition has been as keenly anticipated as the new Star Wars films. As a matter of fact, Hollow Man is the only film I can recall waiting upon with such bated breath and nervous anticipation, even in comparison to The Phantom Menace, which I had been waiting for since 1983. Of course, the fact that Paul Verhoeven sat in the director's chair for this project was a big plus for me, as was the fact that he was working with Robocop cinematographer Jost Vacano once more.

Unfortunately, one element in the credits made my enthusiasm for this film falter slightly - the fact that the script was written by Andrew Marlowe, whose other credits are restricted to such lamentable turkeys as Air Force One and End Of Days. Producer Douglas Wick, whose credits include such works of prejudice as The Craft, originally conceived the film as an exploration of invisibility and its ramifications, and I have to give him credit because the end result is probably a lot more coincidental with that premise than he realizes. As anyone who has religiously watched six of the seven films Verhoeven has made since coming to America in the mid 1980s can tell you, he works best with a good screenwriter who can provide him with the appropriate elements of satire, tragedy, and sheer over-the-top violence. Edward Neumeier was able to provide those things in the scripts for Robocop and Starship Troopers, while Verhoeven had to try and salvage those things for himself out of the scripts Joe Eszterhas wrote for Basic Instinct and Showgirls. Andrew Marlowe sits somewhere between Neumeier and Eszterhas as a screenwriter in that he can build a good story with the base elements in place, but his consistency needs a little work.

In case you're wondering why I just expended so much of my breath explaining those things, it is because Hollow Man is easily the most misunderstood and most underappreciated film of the year 2000. Indeed, many lesser critics love to claim this film has no story, which is far from the case. Hollow Man is an excellent rendering of the true Invisible Man concept, in which an antagonist with shaky morals is suddenly stripped of all the things that keep him decent (in this case, the fear of being observed). The reason why this went right over the heads of the American audience has to do with the fact that a significant percentage of them believe a little document called the New Testament to be a moral code. In effect, Paul Verhoeven took Andrew Marlowe's screenplay and turned it into a display of what the rest of us know to be true: if you're only ever doing things for the expectation of being rewarded or the fear of punished, you have no morals.

In any event, the film begins with Doctor Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) and his research team conducting experiments. Essentially, their task as assigned by the Pentagon revolves around making primates invisible, and then undoing the operation with no lasting ill effects. As Sebastian explains to Doctor Howard Kramer (William Devane), a member of the Pentagon committee concerned with this project who was once his teacher, sending gorillas out of sync with the visible universe was the easy part. Getting them back so they can see what they are scratching or licking has proven much more challenging. Of course, Sebastian has discovered a formula to reverse invisibility that actually works without turning the subject into a steaming pile of liquid. Such is Sebastian's latent megalomania that he wishes to be the first human to have both formulas tested upon him, regardless of the potential consequences. His ex-girlfriend, Linda McKay (Elizabeth Shue) and her new lover Matthew Kensington (Josh Brolin) also happen to be part of the scientific team in question, and they play along with him in the hope that his scientific brilliance will counter their fears, especially that of what happens when he discovers that they are an item. This, of course, is where I will stop my synopsis so that those of you who didn't go to see this film no less than half a dozen times during the theatrical run can be surprised by the turns this story takes.

By now, you're probably thinking that I believe this film to be an instant masterpiece because of Paul Verhoeven's direction. Well, the sad fact is that while a lot of the Verhoeven trademarks keep this film from becoming a disaster, it becomes painfully obvious in a hurry that the creative team responsible should have hired another writer. Early on in the film, several blunders are made, such as explaining the slightly different effect that the invisibility serum has on Sebastian by stating that human DNA is "slightly more complex" than that of a gorilla (they are, in reality, virtually identical). I won't waste your time explaining how Andrew Marlowe's script ruins the build-up of the film with a typical Hollywood ending, since dozens of IMDB users have already done it for me. In any case, if you are anywhere near as keen on the work of one of Hollywood's most misunderstood and undervalued directors as I am, then nothing I will write here is going to matter to you as I am sure you will have already bought this DVD the second it landed on the shelves. The rest of you could do with the lesson in what stories that involve turning a man invisible or superhuman are really about.

Transfer Quality

Video

In a nutshell, this transfer is beautiful to look at, and will definitely be seeing a lot of use in demonstrating the superior capabilities of the format to friends.

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, a slight divergence from the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 that can be forgiven since no picture information appears to be actually missing, and it is 16x9 Enhanced. It continually baffles me as to how Columbia Tristar can compress so many features onto one DVD and still have a feature that looks this sharp. Detail and clarity leaps off this disc with even more firmness than was the case by the fourth time I saw the film at the local theatre. The shadow detail of the transfer is excellent, with the darker sequences in the film having plenty of subtle gradations in detail and depth. There was no low-level noise in the picture at any moment.

The colour saturation of this transfer is rich and vibrant, with all sorts of tones on display for the viewer to behold. Stunning examples of the colour saturation include the disappearing and reappearing sequences, where the internal organs, skeletal structures, vascular systems, and muscle structures of the subjects are boldly displayed. They are shown with enough realism and detail on this DVD, just as they were in the theatrical exhibition, to be used as an interesting sort of anatomy lesson.

MPEG artefacts are not a problem with this transfer, in spite of the bitrate being all over the place in order to accommodate all of the extra features. This can partly be put down to the pristine state that the source material was in, but it is also an excellent example of well-crafted compression. Film-to-video artefacts were restricted to some minor aliasing, often of the kind that you can easily miss if you blink or turn your head. Film artefacts consisted of occasional black and white marks on the picture, most of them so small that they could easily be missed. The number of film artefacts that were large enough to be noticed could be counted on one hand.

This disc uses the RSDL format, with the layer change taking place in the middle of Chapter 24 at 89:05, just after Sebastian greets his reflection in the mirror. The pause is somewhat noticeable and jarring, but not too disruptive to the movie.

Audio

During all of the times I saw Hollow Man in the local theatre, I found myself imagining how the audio would sound when presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 on my speakers, which I specifically upgraded between then and now for the purpose of furthering my enjoyment of this and other Paul Verhoeven films on DVD. I was not disappointed at any moment.

There are four soundtracks on this DVD. The first two are the original English dialogue and a Hungarian dub in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a bitrate of 448 kilobits per second. The third is an audio commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding at a bitrate of 192 kilobits per second. Rounding out the soundtracks is an Isolated Score in Dolby Digital 5.0, with a bitrate of 448 kilobits per second. I listened to all of these soundtracks in their entirety, except for the Hungarian dub, which I only briefly compared a couple of lines in. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand almost at all times, with only a handful of words posing any problem during the entire film. There were no subjectively discernible problems with audio sync.

The music in this film is comprised of two parts: four contemporary numbers that are scattered around the film and are eminently forgettable, and the rest of the film, which is accompanied by score music from Jerry Goldsmith, who previously worked with Paul Verhoeven on Total Recall and Basic Instinct. While I was distinctly unimpressed with his work on Total Recall, his work on Basic Instinct set a powerful mood that really complemented the onscreen action. His score music for Hollow Man more closely resembles the Basic Instinct score, with effective uses of subtle themes and sometimes even the most eerie silences in mid-cue that give the film an extra dimension.

The surround channels are consistently active for ninety-five percent of this film, supporting the music, sound effects, and even the occasional disembodied voice. There are some sequences when the sound field becomes biased towards the front, such as the conference between the research team after the Pentagon meeting, but these occasional sequences are heavily based on dialogue, so this can be overlooked. Most of the surround effects are subtle in nature, and this is definitely not an action film, but the surround channels create a subtly immersive field that really enhances the experience of the film. The subwoofer had a whale of a time supporting the music and such bass-heavy sound effects as the gorilla's footsteps or the elevator's movements. It handled every sound effect that required its support without calling any specific attention to itself.

Extras

Shortly after seeing this film for the fourth time, I began writing an essay that described, among other things, the sort of extras I wanted to be included with the DVD version. Given that I talked no less than half a dozen other people into paying good money to see this film in addition to paying to see it no less than six times myself, I didn't think my requests were too much to ask for. For the most part, this gathering of extras coincides quite faithfully with my expectations. Just one request - can we please have a Dolby Digital trailer other than City, since I've seen it enough times at the cinema to start bringing ear plugs for when it drags out its overloud carcass?

The main menu is heavily animated, and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sample of Jerry Goldsmith's score music. Overall, the introductory animation and the between-menus animations are extremely well-presented and succeed in building an appropriate atmosphere. The menus are 16x9 Enhanced.

Audio Commentary - Paul Verhoeven (Director), Kevin Bacon (Actor), and Andrew Marlowe (Writer)

After listening to Ian's complaints about some of the last few audio commentaries he's listened to, I have come to the conclusion that he has yet to experience a commentary that features Paul Verhoeven. Anyone who needs to be convinced of the potential value of this extra should simply sit back and listen to the master at work, although you'll need to adjust to his rather broad accent. The commentary is rendered in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding. It features Paul Verhoeven, Kevin Bacon, and Andrew Marlowe speaking through the front and centre channels while the film's soundtrack is mixed at a lower volume into the surrounds. Paul does most of the talking, with frequent embellishments on his comments by Kevin and Andrew, and I've only heard two other commentaries available on Region 4 DVDs that provide this much insight into the movie-making process. There is a slight pause in the commentary during the film's climax, as if all three participants feel that this scripting faux pas isn't worthy of a comment, but for ninety-five percent of the film, the commentary is just as entertaining as its subject.

Isolated Music Score with commentary by Jerry Goldsmith (Composer)

One of the things we're expected to do here at Michael D's is to review a DVD, its main feature, and its extras all at once. The only exceptions to this are when a Full Frame version of the film is also present on a DVD, which we may look at for comparison purposes, or when there is an Isolated Score track, which we're not expected to listen to from start to finish. This is one Isolated Score that I not only listened to from start to finish, but I had an immensely enjoyable time doing so. When there is no score music present in the film's soundtrack, Jerry Goldsmith comments about his experiences working with Paul Verhoeven on Total Recall and Basic Instinct, as well as how he came to be involved with Hollow Man, and the ins and outs of the cues he used this time.

Featurette - Hollow Man: Anatomy Of A Thriller (15:03)

Presented Full Frame, with snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this fifteen-minute featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. The Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack is a bit of a waste, since the soundtrack would have almost certainly sounded the same in stereo. "I have to play a mad scientist in the movie, so it's always helpful to have one around," says Kevin Bacon of director Paul Verhoeven. The snippets of interview and special effects test footage reveal a lot about the technical process of making the film, which includes such things as scanning Kevin Bacon's body into a computer.

Featurette - Paul Verhoeven: Hollywood's Mad Scientist (6:46)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this (almost) seven-minute featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. Expanding on Kevin Bacon's "mad scientist" comment in the previous featurette, this featurette details Paul Verhoeven's rather amusing methods of getting the most out of everyone on set. Of the most interest is what cinematographer and long-time collaborator Jost Vacano has to say about Verhoeven's style of direction.

Featurette - The Invisibility Formula (5:01)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this five-minute featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. The less said about how frightening Kevin Bacon looks when he is literally covered head-to-toe in black, the better. There is one shot of him at 1:45 that leads me to almost believe they should have left him in the picture, he looks that grotesque.

Featurette - The Muscle Man (5:23)

Also presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this five-minute featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette describes the effects and processes involved in creating the muscular models of Sebastian and Isabelle the gorilla.

Featurette - The Human Bubble (3:13)

A quick documentary of the effects processes involved in creating the pool scene, presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, without 16x9 Enhancement. Don't let the three-and-a-quarter minute length fool you: this featurette reveals quite a lot about the making of one of the most fascinating special effects of the film.

Featurette - Thermal Imaging (1:22)

Once again presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This is the first of the featurettes that I was disappointed with, as it doesn't reveal all that much about the processes used for the thermal imaging shots in its eighty-two second length.

Featurette - The Smoke Guy (1:39)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this ninety-nine second featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette reveals quite a lot about a specific special effects process in spite of its short length, and it is well worth watching.

Featurette - The Gorilla Suit (1:36)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this ninety-six second featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette concentrates on the work of the man with the most thankless job of this film: Tom Woodruff, Jr., who was in the Isabelle gorilla suit for several shots, as well as in the suit used to simulate the gorilla that melts during the footage we see in the film shown at the Pentagon.

Featurette - The Mask (2:07)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this two minute and seven second featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette concentrates on the mask that was used in shots where Sebastian actually wanted to be seen, and describes what was used to make it.

Featurette - Flaming Sebastian (2:42)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this two minute and forty-two second featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette provides an interesting insight into the making of the flame-thrower sequence, and you really have to feel for the stuntman they used.

Featurette - Elevator Finale (3:07)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this three minute and seven second featurette is not 16x9 Enhanced. This featurette deals with the making of the last big special effects sequence of the film, which was shot using several different photographic techniques.

Storyboard Comparisons - Ape Reversion Storyboards with commentary by Paul Verhoeven (2:06)

This Full Frame featurette with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound basically compares the storyboards of the sequence in which Isabelle is brought back to visibility with the finished product. The commentary by Paul Verhoeven reveals a lot about the process of storyboarding special effects sequences and how his methods reflect the business side of filmmaking.

Featurette - The Underground Lab (1:40)

This Full Frame featurette with footage from the film in 1.85:1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 sound details the construction of the sets used to represent the underground lab in which the experiments are conducted.

Featurette - Reversion Progressions with commentary by Scott Stokdyk (0:51)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this featurette details the effects used to create the progressive "phase shifts" as they are called in the film. It would have been nice to have a more lengthy and detailed description of the actual processes, but the incomplete special effects shown are extremely revealing.

Featurette - Invisibility Progressions with commentary by Scott Anderson (1:19)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this featurette details the effects used to create the sequence in which Sebastian becomes invisible.

Featurette - Digital Body Parts montage (1:33)

Presented Full Frame, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and snippets of footage from the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this featurette shows how the digital organs, bones, and muscles were put together and made to move. It is worth watching once just to get a feel for how complicated the effects shots used to simulate the invisibility and reversion processes really are.

Featurettes - VFX Picture-In-Picture comparisons (1:02, 0:52, and 2:22)

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with occasional snippets in Full Frame and a Dolby Digital 2.0 production soundtrack, these featurettes each deal with a specific special effects sequence. The main frame shows the shot with Kevin Bacon still in the picture, while a smaller frame in the bottom right corner shows the finished shot. This is well worth looking at to see how different a special effects shot looks when it is incomplete. In order, the special effects shown are Kramer's Death, Sprinkler Attack, and Sebastian's Demise.

Theatrical Trailer

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 16x9 Enhancement and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, this theatrical trailer does an excellent job of summarizing what the film is about without giving away any serious details. The video and audio quality are both quite a delight to experience.

Teaser Trailer

This teaser trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but it is not 16x9 Enhanced. Aside from this one omission, the video and audio quality of this trailer are both delightful. This trailer also delivers a great summation of what the film is really about without giving away too much.

Deleted Scenes with commentary by Paul Verhoeven

I have to say I am disappointed with the presentation of these deleted scenes for two reasons. The first reason is that they are not 16x9 Enhanced. Each deleted scene is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 production sound. The three deleted scenes contained in this submenu are titled Was It A Dream?, Sebastian Attack, and Sebastian On The Prowl. Contrary to what the above heading might imply, the deleted scenes do not have a separate audio track containing commentary by Paul Verhoeven. Instead, the deleted scenes are presented with Full Frame snippets of footage from an interview with him, in which he explains the reason why each scene was cut. Was It A Dream? contains no such commentary at all, Sebastian Attack is explained as not sitting well with test audiences, and Sebastian On The Prowl is explained as basically being redundant. Of these deleted scenes, I sort of wish that parts of the latter two were kept in the final cut, but that's just my view.

Cast & Crew Biographies

Biographies for Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, and director Paul Verhoeven are provided under a submenu labelled Talent Files. They reveal some facts of interest about each subject, such as Verhoeven having a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics, or that Elizabeth Shue debuted in The Karate Kid, but these biographies are otherwise only cursory.

R4 vs R1

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

Theatrical Trailer - A Few Good Men
Theatrical Trailer - Starship Troopers
Theatrical Trailer - Final Fantasy
Four-page booklet
English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack
French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack

Aside from three theatrical trailers for films that are available elsewhere and the usual PAL/NTSC differences, the Region 4 and Region 1 versions of this disc are fundamentally identical. The Region 1 version of this disc features Region Coding Enhancement, so those of you who prefer 3:2 pull-down or a handful of theatrical trailers to a 4% speed-up are advised to make sure your player is RCE compatible before buying. The only extra I can say I'd really miss from the Region 1 version is the booklet, but most of that repeats what has been said in the featurettes, anyway.

Summary

Hollow Man, like much everything else Paul Verhoeven has directed in the past fifteen years, proves that the creative work of Europeans is above criticism from Americans. Granted, the ending has "I've painted myself into a narrative corner and this is the only way I could find to get out" stamped all over it in Andrew Marlowe's handwriting, but the rest of the film is the most superior example of the Invisible Man theme you'll ever find, with not a string or bandage in sight.

The video transfer borders on reference material, missing out only because of a slight problem with aliasing.

The audio transfer is one of the best examples of a higher-bitstream Dolby Digital soundtrack I've heard to date.

The extras are comprehensive and do a great deal to further one's understanding and enjoyment of the film.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display	Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm) in 16:9 and 4:3 modes, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification	Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Yamaha NS-90 Rear Speakers, Yamaha NS-C120 Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer